Nampa man sentenced to prison for lewd conduct with a minor under 16

Bryan Taylor, Canyon County Prosecutor, announced today that Keith O’Dell Peterson, age 71, of Nampa, was sentenced by the Honorable Christopher S. Nye for the felony crime of Lewd Conduct with a Minor Under Sixteen. Peterson pleaded guilty to the crime in October as part of a Rule 11 plea agreement.

Keith O’Dell Peterson

Judge Nye sentenced Peterson to 7 years fixed, followed by 10 indeterminate, for a total unified sentence of 17 years in prison. Judge Nye also ordered Peterson to register as a sex offender, submit a DNA sample to the Idaho database, and have no contact with the victim, the victim’s family, or any male under the age of 18 for the duration of the sentence. Peterson was also ordered to pay a $5,000 civil penalty and restitution for counseling.

Peterson was arrested in April 2019 after an investigation by the Nampa Police Department revealed he had inappropriately touched an underage male victim on multiple occasions over a two-year period. The victim initially disclosed to the abuse to a School Resource Officer in the Nampa School District, explaining that he met Peterson through church and the two developed a friendship before the inappropriate touching began. Follow-up investigations revealed that Peterson sexually touched the victim on at least two separate occasions at his Nampa residence. The victim also told investigators that Peterson, who was a former teacher at Nampa High School, admitted that he sexually abused a different student several decades ago.

“This was an extremely upsetting and unsettling case, in which the defendant used his position of trust to groom and take advantage of an innocent young victim for his own sexual desires,” said Prosecutor Bryan Taylor. “We have a responsibility to protect the children in our community, and Mr. Peterson violated that trust. He deserves to be in prison.”